Alice Subley Mandanis

Alice Mandanis passed away on August 2, 2024. She was born on December 22, 1930, to Athena and Emmanuel Subley, in Richmond, Virginia. In 1953, she married John P. Mandanis, M.D. who predeceased her in 1989.

They lived all of their married life, and shared their love of opera, in Arlington, Virginia, where Dr. John Mandanis was a practicing cardiologist and Dr. Alice Mandanis was Provost and Professor at Marymount University. She is survived by her sister Lillian and her husband William Byer, her son Peter and his wife Shelley Ottinger, her daughter Heidi and her husband Steve Schooner, her grandchildren Ripley Mandanis and John Schooner, and her step-grandchildren Carleigh Peterson and Turner Peterson.

A graduate of the University of Richmond, Alice Mandanis received an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America. Shortly after joining the faculty at Marymount in 1971, she became its chief academic officer, and for 21 years supervised its academic transformation from a junior college for 500 women to a comprehensive, coeducational university enrolling 4,000 students. She oversaw development of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in business, education, humanities, nursing, physical therapy, and behavioral sciences.

As Marymount expanded, she oversaw new off-campus sites in Loudoun and Fairfax Counties and Ballston in Arlington. As one of the first women holding leadership positions in higher education, at a pivotal time when new types of institutions were seeking recognition, she served as trustee at the University of Richmond, Centenary College in New Jersey, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in Georgia. She chaired SACS accreditation committees at 25 colleges and universities in the Southern Region. The recipient of several awards for meritorious leadership in higher education, Dr. Mandanis also served on advisory boards of the Arlington Free Clinic, the Virginia Women’s Leadership Identification Program, and the Wolf Trap Foundation.

The family will welcome friends at a graveside service on September 12 at 11:00 a.m. at National Memorial Park, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA. 22042. Reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial contributions to the John P. and Alice S. Mandanis Scholarship at Marymount University https://alumni.marymount.edu/Donate-Now (scholarship designation in the drop-down menu).